Hope is Just a Stranger
by Nina of the Galaxy
Summary: Oliver goes to Laurel, Thea's other family, after Thea is killed by Ra's.


One text came in.

 _I'm coming. Don't leave the DA's office. Please._

She saved the deposition she was working on and shut down her computer. He did not say please unless something was wrong. One of his less charming traits when they weren't together was his propensity to not be polite unless he really needed something.

"What's wrong?" She asked him when he showed up in her doorway.

He sighed. "Thea." His voice cracked.

She took her bag and took his hand. "I'm here. Whatever you need, I am here." She promised him. This was big. He was spooked and whatever it was, it had to do with Thea.

He nodded. "Can you take a few sick days?" He asked. "I don't want anyone else in on this,"

She kissed his forehead and squeezed his hand. "Where are we going?" She asked him in the quietest voice she could muster. The face he wore was heartbreaking and she couldn't really handle it. She could fake it, but it broke her heart more than if God himself had told her she was going to hell.

"To the hospital," He said, strong this time.

They left, quietly and without disturbing anyone else. There were a few more employees around, but no one who cared where she went or who she went anywhere with.

The drive was quiet. Not to the hospital first. To the Queen Loft, to get him a quick bag of stuff. Clothes for both him and Thea. Something for all of them to do. Some easy snacks so they wouldn't have to eat hospital food.

He took her hand and drove her to the hospital. There was no one else. She thought about it for a second, maybe texting Felicity or Digg, but he would see her texting and there would be questions. Questions she couldn't lie to him now. Maybe later.

The sight of Thea with tube through practically every orifice horrified her. She squeezed his hand harder. "How?" She asked him, as they watched the machines keep her alive with the doctors worrying around her.

"Ra's," He said, simply. "He's going to take everyone I love if I don't give in," He paused and turned to her. It was a night for sad and horrible expressions on his face, but that one, the pain of it all, it was the worst. "He's gonna come for you. If I don't take this."

One of the doctors came out and smiled at them with a sadness tinged to it. "We've got her stabilized, but doesn't look good Mr. and Mrs. Queen," She said as she held out a clipboard with a do not resuscitate order. "Maybe it's time to look into other options," She said.

Oliver shook his head, "Could we go in and see her?" He asked.

The doctor walked away, the finer details could be hashed out at a later time. Families needed moments to see their loved ones. To come to terms with the conditions they were in.

Oliver and Laurel stayed outside the room for a minute, both wanting to swing the door open and worry over her. But neither of them did. When they did, it became real. She was really and truly hurt. The illusion would be shattered.

They gathered their courage and put their hands on the knob. They were about to go in when, Malcolm came down the hall.

Laurel's mouth gaped, "He's not here for no reason. You are not seriously thinking about taking this deal. You can't. Not for him." She scolded in a cold whisper, so that other people didn't look at them too closely.

He nodded to a seat and ordered Malcolm to sit down. He looked into her eyes and held her face. "I am not doing this for him. I would never do this for him. I am doing this for my family. For you and for Thea. And that is why I am doing this, okay? I can't let anything happen to you. You are the only family I have left. Okay?" He asked her.

She could do anything but nod. "Are you absolutely sure about this?" She asked him as she looked at only him.

"I am," He promised. "But I have to go." He told her as he kissed her on the forehead and looked at Malcolm, "You better be sure about this,"

Malcolm shook his head. "Everything he's offered you is true, but only if you do what he asks. Anything you have left here, it's time to say goodbye." He said and he looked to Laurel.

"This is not over," Laurel told Malcolm. "If he dies, I will kill you myself."

Malcolm chuckled. "God, I forget how much hubris you have," He laughed in her face.

She wanted to punch him. She balled her fist and Oliver put a hand over it. "Don't." He cautioned.

Laurel shook her head, holding back the tears and looked up at him. "I don't want you to go," She said and the pain cracked through her voice. "What is Thea going to do without you?"

His mouth wobbled. "I'm taking her. The official story is we are transferring her to STAR Labs. where Barry made his recovery." He told her.

"Tell me the truth," She demanded. "You can bullshit me all day long about everyone else, but you don't do it with Thea. You don't do it with family,"

He looked at his shoes. Why was she making this so hard? When he looked up, he looked into her hurt eyes. It was the only place to look. He let a tear slip and shook his head. "I am taking her to Nanda Parbat. We're going to use the lazarus pit to bring her back to her full health. This is what I'm exchanging for becoming the next Ra's. For you."

She looked away from him and clutched a rogue chair, sat by the door and tried not to fall down. "Come with me. The team can deal with the city," He told her. "Come with me and be with Thea. Guide her back home." He asked her.

It hurt that he was choosing this. But she understood why. She understood that this was Thea and if you had asked her what she would give for Thea to be alive again, she would have done the same thing. "Fine," She told him. "But I need to go home and get a quick pack together,"

He understood. This could be an easy thing to take in, but she did it better than anyone. "Here's the hangar information," He told her as he gave her a thin slip of paper. He pulled out his wallet and gave her a couple of bills for cab fare, enough for the trip to her apartment and the hangar about four times. "Be there in an hour?" He asked.

She nodded. She pushed past Malcolm and called a cab quickly.

"Hey," He shouted. "You didn't lose family," He cowled.

She stopped and turned to look at him. "Do not tell me I did not lose family. That girl is as much my family as she is Oliver's. I took care of her for five years. When you didn't even care. I went to recitals and archery competitions. I watched her have her first spill on a bike and I showed the joys of making your own tollhouse cookies, so don't you dare say I didn't lose family when it's your fault she's in that bed to begin with.

"If it weren't for Oliver, I would kill you myself because you have literally taken everything from me. I used to think it was Sara, but no, it was you. You and the Gambit's sinking. You and the undertaking. You and taking on the league. Thea is only in that bed because you only care about you. You don't care about her. You didn't care about Tommy. You care about you. So far as I am concerned, you are not her family. You are her sperm donor. A biological marker. But you are not family.

"So you can just sit down with that statement and apologize, Malcolm Theodore Merlyn, or when we get back, you will be slapped face first with a list of litigation so long, it makes Hubbard's Mission Earth look short," She seethed to him.

He did exactly as told and sat down. "I'm sorry," He said. And then he said nothing and she left to go to her apartment and pack.

She didn't say anything whens he got out of the cab, just gave him the money and boarded the plane. It was simple. This was simple. Too simple, really. This shouldn't be that simple, she thought, but it was.

She smiled while she was in the plane and looked at him. "They've got her on all of her machines," He told her. "She's going to be fine."

Laurel shook her head. "Who's jet?" She asked. "Cause it isn't yours anymore,"

They both laughed. He nodded. It wasn't his jet. He looked to her. "Ray's. Felicity asked him to give it to us for the weekend."

She smiled. "She likes him." She told Oliver.

He nodded. Felicity and Ray, wasn't something he was entirely comfortable discussing. The whole thing was complicated. Even more with Laurel at his side. But they took off without any turbulence, like they were meant to do this.

"Are you sure that everything is gonna be okay?" She asked him. "Diggle and Felicity and Ray, they know right?" She asked him.

He nodded. "I only want family there, but yes, they know." He told her.

That got the barest amount of a smile. "Thank you for letting me be here for both of you," She told him. "My boss understood when I said I needed to go to Central City to care for Thea and you, guess I haven't quite lost the Oliver Queen's girlfriend reputation."

He chuckled. She wasn't his girlfriend that had never been adequate to describe her, not even when they were actually dating, but now it seemed entirely too flippant. "You know, on the island, I carried your picture everywhere. Five years, I felt protected and at home when I looked at you. And there was this time when I came back to Starling, it was complicated, but I saw you and Tommy and Thea. And Thea had a drug problem."

"I know when that was," She told him. "Around the time of Tommy's birthday. It felt like an angel was watching over all of us. Tommy, Thea, and I. But it wasn't an angel. It was you. You were protecting us"

He nodded. "It's all I've ever wanted to do. Protect Thea and you. And Malcolm warned me of what might happen, but I never thought that it would get this far," He mused and looked out the window.

She put a hand on his knee and thought how weird it must be. "You haven't failed yet. We are getting her back." She promised him and that was the final word she had to say to him the entire plane ride.

They arrived at the League's door with all of the men in front as Oliver carried Thea and Malcolm and Laurel stood behind him.

The crowds parted and three figures came forward, a woman and man who followed a Ra's. "Welcome home, Al Sahim," He greeted in a way that made shivers run down Laurel's spine and not in the good way.

They were summoned inside.

"We need to prepare for the ritual," The man said as they got inside and he asked for Thea's body. Thea's limp body. Oliver didn't seem keen on giving her up and she understood why, but the man said, "I will treat her as my own family," And it took a few seconds, but he gave her body up.

Laurel took his hand and squeezed. He squeezed back.

They were showed to a room and she smiled. The room was remarked for its opulence and the contrasting drabness of it once Oliver was to become the next Ra's and then the assassin who showed it to them, left.

"I heard a couple of them talking. We have until midnight, which is in a couple of hours," He told her as he put his bag down and sat on the plush red couch.

She dropped her bag where she was and curled up next to him. "Are you sure about this? Because we can still back out," She whispered as she shut her eyes and felt him underneath her.

"I didn't know what I was fighting for before." He whispered to her. "But I do now. I have to do this," He said, with some finality.


End file.
